


After the War

by Casey_Enough



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Epsiode Fix-it: s02e13 Doomsday, Eventual Fluff, Eventual reunion, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I just love TenRose and they deserve a better ending, I'm Bad At Tagging, Other, Post-Episode AU: s02e13 Doomsday, Season/Series 03, TenRose feels, but please enjoy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-10 08:57:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5579332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Casey_Enough/pseuds/Casey_Enough
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Battle of Canary Wharf is over, the Void is sealed, and the Doctor and Rose find themselves trapped in separate, lonely universes. Even months after the battle, Rose struggles to settle into her new life in Pete's World, unable to get through a day without mourning her old life- and, mostly, the man who changed it. On the other side of the universe, the Doctor feels Rose's absence in his life, and throwing himself back into his travelling hasn't helped. But when strange circumstances begin to connect the two of them, an unforeseen danger threatens to shatter everything. Will the Doctor be able to save Rose while trapped in another universe? Or, on the other hand, could he get her back?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know, summaries are tough, but I just love these two so much, and I needed to write a nice, thoughtful, plotful story for them (and for me) with an eventual reunion. I've tried my best to make it canon-sensical, and seeing as we're dealing with Doctor Who here, that's no small task. So, there's some plot, hurt, comfort, angst, fluff, and if things go the way I think they might, I may just delve into some later adventures with these two. Enjoy, and be patient with any blunders I make with canon or the excess of angst in the beginning.

Today had been an empty day. And ever since the war, an empty day was a good day for Rose. She hadn’t been woken, crying from nightmares that seemed somehow to seep into her day. She hadn’t had anyone around to force her to eat breakfast, or smile, or talk, or do anything really other than stare blankly as the clock wound uselessly on. Usually she avoided the clock- all it did was make her think about time, which was as meaningless as it was painful. Because wherever she was in time, the one thing she could be certain of was that he was somewhere else. But today, all the clock did was tell her that it was time to go to work, and she obeyed it. 

Slipping past the endless faces on the street, she felt oddly less alone than she did when facing her friends, or even her family. No one looked at her carefully, as if she were liable to slip away if they didn’t keep her in the corner of their eyes. No one asked her questions about where she came from, or why she was always alone. No one said her name in the way that made her ache to think about how it would never be said again. But the streets were full of faces and backs and arms that may as well be his, and that was just as hard. In the beginning, she would chase these glimpses sometimes, following a stranger who walked like him, or had his hair color, or possessed any other echo she was ravenous for. But all that would happen afterwards was she found herself even emptier inside- an angry, hungry sort of emptiness which threatened to consume what little of her there was left. It wasn’t worth the brief thrill she got from pretending for a moment that he was still there. 

Work was really just a formality, something Jackie insisted on to get her out of her house and her head. She had enough money not to work, even enough money to rent a small flat downtown. But without the job, she was honestly at a loss for what to do with herself. In the beginning, she had tried tirelessly to fill her days with thoughtless, menial tasks- things that she could do on autopilot. But inevitably, she would run out of little tasks- no more rooms to clean, no more dishes to wash and wash again. And when that happened, she felt the hole in her life so strongly it burned, and all she could do was cry and clutch at her aching chest, pointlessly attempting to physically hold herself together. It was pathetic to say the least. 

So pathetic, in fact, that she wasn’t sure anymore whether she was avoiding her family or if they were avoiding her. If Pete would have been awkward under normal circumstances, in the circumstances under which they were brought together, they could barely look at each other. Realistically, he had saved her life. She would have been sucked straight into the Void, lost forever in time and space and nothingness. And it wasn’t his fault that sometimes she wondered if that would have been better- nothingness sounded pretty appealing on her worse days. But all she could see when she looked at him was the life he wrenched her from- the life she loved. And yes, the man she loved. 

The shop wasn’t too busy on Tuesdays, so she didn’t have to cashier. Inventory was her favorite job- opening boxes, counting items, stocking shelves. Very little face to face, but something to keep her hands and mind busy. 

“Rose!” the owner called from the front of the shop. She winced, infinitesimally- ever since the war, she hated the sound of her own name. No one said it right. 

“Coming!” she shouted, hastily stuffing the items in her arms onto the stock shelves in front of her. Hopefully she wasn’t in trouble, though she couldn’t imagine why she would be. 

“Rose, you’ve been here for a couple months,” the owner began, twirling a pen absentmindedly on her desk. Uh oh. She knew where this spiel was going- she’d been fired before. To be fair that was back in that day, when she was always coming in hungover from a night on the town or calling in sick to spend a day with some mates- this time, she’d been a model employee. Actually she’d never missed a day. “Don’t worry- you’re not in trouble. Actually, I wasn’t going to schedule you for the rest of the week- we’re closed on Thursday, because I’ve got a guy coming in to look at the heat, and David’s already asked to work on Friday…” Rose smiled placidly, unimpressed with where this was going. The shop owner, a somewhat overly amiable woman named Laura, interpreted her lukewarm smile as happiness and reciprocated, beaming back at her. “So you’re off until Saturday afternoon. And, obviously, we’re closed on Christmas...” She reached out, patting Rose on the hand, and Rose tried not to openly flinch at the contact. 

“Thanks.” Rose responded flatly. She was already reeling- the thought of all that free time was making her a little bit ill. But she just smiled and nodded through the rest of her shift and packed up her things for the weekend when she left. Stepping out into the bitter cold, she walked for about four blocks before letting herself collapse onto a bench. 

It was December. When did that happen? Somehow it always came back to December. That’s how time works. One voice in her head chimed. “No,” she whispered, the sound muffled into the gloves she covered her face in. “No, it’s not.” The tears she couldn’t hold back stung on her face in the fiercely cold wind. Time was once a line, or a hand on a clock. Then it became a mess of wibbly wobbly timey-wimey… stuff, and an adventure. Now it was a wall, separating her from the rest of the world, slowly crushing her under it’s weight. Even though most everything (save a few small changes) about the world around her looked like home, she felt more out of place than she had on Althrace, or Raxacoricofallapatorius. It was like the air was somehow thinner, and it was harder to fill her lungs. 

It was going to be a long, long weekend.


	2. Chapter 2

It was December. When had that happened? Or no, where. Wait… no, definitely when. Er, when and where? The Doctor shook his head, as if the motion would somehow clear his racing thoughts. It had never worked in the past, and it didn’t now. 

He was racing through the streets of New New (New New New New New New, etc.) York, arms full of confiscated medications, so powerful that they had caused a wave of drugged out targeted crime in the slums of the city. As he sped towards the street corner where he was certain he’d parked the TARDIS, he was surprised to see twinkling lights and glimmering tinsel hanging from the streetlamps and signposts- somehow it was December again. 

He didn’t have time to ponder this much longer at the moment as some very disgruntled local ‘doctors’ appeared around the corner, shouting in a accent he recognized as New (New New New New New, etc.) Sicilian. But once safely back in flight with the TARDIS, the line of thought became more and more impossible to ignore. He sat down hard in his chair facing the controls, absentmindedly flipping levers and turning dials and whatnot. Mostly, he avoided looking at the jumpseat next to him, which had been empty since the battle. 

December. That was bittersweet. He had been… born, regenerated, awakened, whatever you wanted to call it- in December, on Christmas. That wasn’t so long ago, was it? A flip through the calender, a trip around this sun. And yet, it was December again, and he was alone. There was no more avoiding the pain, he was already thinking of her.

It wasn’t just the jump seat that was empty, nowadays. It was the oh so familiar hole in his life that a lost companion left. He had tried to prepare himself for the possibility, ages and ages ago when everything was better. When Rose was still with him. And yes, he had lost people before- even had people die, and he’d thought there was no greater pain. But the pain for him, a telepath, to have the single most important person in his world wrenched out of his hands, into a different universe, had been almost unbearable. He could feel the gaping space where Rose was meant to go- his time sense had gone completely off the wall, all he could focus on was his Rose, missing from time and space. The way her emotions had filled the room, and his mind when she grasped his hand, was nothing but cold empty space to him now. 

Humans. One moment you’re griping about how short seven or eight decades with them seems, the next moment they’re slipping through your fingers. He buried his face in his hands, running a hand through his hair and leaving it completely vertical. He should be taking comfort in the fact that Rose was alive, and with her family. It was selfish of him to be upset at all, really. But he couldn’t help but think about all the places he’d wanted to show her. They hadn’t even scraped the surface. There was so much beauty she deserved to see, to be a part of. And she had been so good… she had been brilliant. He always knew, with a companion, that this was the worst part. But with Rose, he’d allowed himself to dive in like he hadn’t in a long time. And look where that got him- moping about like sadsack in the TARDIS. 

“I am not moping.” he mumbled aloud to himself, continuing his business of spinning wheels and pressing buttons and all the usual nonsense of space/time flight. But the TARDIS, pulsing a very faint wave of emotion through his fingertips, seemed to disagree with him. Things had been dim and a bit subdued since she left- the TARDIS missed its Bad Wolf. As if it weren’t bad enough that he lost her, now his bloody sentient spaceship was depressed too. 

In the beginning, it was almost impossible to pilot- the TARDIS just seemed to want to follow Rose’s trail of breadcrumbs through time and space, taking him back, painfully, to all of the places they had been together. After about a month of this, however, things seemed to grind to a halt. She was really, properly gone from this universe. She might as well have never existed. 

No. he chided himself. This universe was full of the remnants of her existence. People she’d helped, species she’d saved from extinction, entire planets that would have been dust without her. There was almost more of Rose here than in the universe she ended up in. Actually… 

The TARDIS hummed under his fingertips, seeming to follow his train of thought. For a few manic moments, he considered the possibilities- Rose belonged in this world. He jumped up, pacing the room with a hint of his old energy. If he could somehow… if the TARDIS could… if she hadn’t… 

But then once again his heart sank, and he collapsed back into his seat. The Void. He couldn’t cross the Void, and he couldn’t go back into her universe without risking making things astronomically worse. It’s true, she didn’t belong there- Jackie fell into place like a puzzle piece, replacing her alternate self and so did Mickey. But Rose had never existed in that world. She was an anomaly, and she was trapped like that. The thought only sent another tiny spike of pain through him- she was like him. One of a kind, and very alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of short chapters, I know, jumping from perspective to perspective, but I promise we're getting somewhere.

“You better not just mope about here the entire time, alright? Try to have some fun. Why don’t you try to meet up with Rebecca? I remember you saying something about her.” Jackie babbled at Rose, pausing only occasionally to breathe. Rose just blew on her tea, although she knew it was already cool. Hearing an abnormally long pause in her mother’s stream of chatter, she realized Jackie was expecting a response. She sighed. 

“Rebecca is on holiday in Sweden.” she replied. “For Christmas.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie- she hadn’t talked to Rebecca in weeks, and she may very well be in Sweden. But it was worth the white lie to get Jackie off her back- Rose wouldn’t put it past her to actually attempt to schedule a playdate, as if she were a toddler. 

Jackie squinted, but shrugged and continued her monologue. “Pete’s been thinking about going somewhere, too. I want to go somewhere warm, you know, but my mad husband thinks he wants to go skiing. I told him, you know what happened last time, I am not spending Christmas in hospital because you decided you were a double black diamond skier. And you know, I hate the cold, I’m absolutely daft on skis…. But of course, I’d hate for you to be alone on Christmas.“ she trailed off, trying to gauge Rose’s reaction. 

Rose felt a small wave of relief. The idea of having to spend Christmas acting jolly and making merry with Pete and Jackie had already been stressing her out. The thought of Christmas at all, in fact, was a bit touchy. But looking up at Jackie, she managed a small smile. 

“That’s alright, mum. Know it sounds dull, but I wasn’t actually planning on, um, doing Christmas this year.” she cleared her throat. “'S just a bit… hard for me, still.”

Jackie’s face immediately fell. “Oh, sweetheart… “ she murmured, reaching out to take Rose’s hand. Rose looked down at the table. “It’s been months.” 

“I know, mum.” Rose mumbled, finding her throat a bit thick. She didn’t know how to reassure her mother- it had been months. She ought to have moved on. But it didn’t change the way she felt. 

When Jackie had left, Rose tried to draw out the task of washing dishes for as long as possible. She scrubbed at a stubborn spot on one of the mugs, trying to focus. Christmas. her mind wandered. Christmas alone. She scrubbed harder. Christmas in this world, where she didn’t belong. The spot didn’t budge. Christmas without him. 

“Ow! Shit.” She called out suddenly. The mug had shattered in her hands, slicing a thin cut in her palm. It had been the most bizarre feeling - like a tiny earthquake that travelled up her body. But as soon as the feeling had started, it ended. She dropped the pieces of the mug in the sink, rinsing off the cut and heading to the bathroom to look for a bandage. 

“Great.” she muttered, clutching a tissue in her palm to staunch the bleeding. No bandages- she’d have to run down to the little drugstore on the corner to grab some.


	4. Chapter 4

He was fairly certain that Androzani Minor didn’t have a tectonic crust- nothing to cause earthquakes. Actually, he was certainly certain. So the sensation that shook his body as landed, shakily, on the balcony of a ruined temple somewhere on the desert planet a distress call had drawn him to, was less than warranted. It was bizarre, somehow both physical and mental at once, like something rippling through his mind like water. It was similar to the feeling he got when something set off his time instincts, like knowing a very important event was about to happen, or becoming part of some timeline. Looking around, he was certain that it hadn’t been caused by anything around him. Aside from needing to replace a certain priceless religious artifact, his business on the planet was pretty much sorted- no lunatic religious zealots chasing him, no futuristic weapons to turn his legs into jello. So this distinctly gelatin-esque feeling he was… feeling was confusing to say the least. 

Regaining his composure, he headed towards the TARDIS.


	5. Chapter 5

The shopping center seemed oddly empty, for being so close to Christmas. Rose had decided to stop by and grab an early Christmas gift for her mum, before she left for her trip. They’d compromised on a spa/ski resort, where Jackie could get her fill of leisure and Pete could narrowly avoid breaking his ankles skiing (again). They were leaving in only a day or two, so Rose felt she should probably pick something up, so as not to hurt mum’s feelings by totally dismissing her favorite holiday. The real question was, what should she get?

In this new world, this new life, Jackie had everything. No longer crammed in a tiny flat, Pete had given her free reign of the decorating (which had arguably turned out to be a mistake- purple carpets aren’t for everyone). She seemed to shop to her heart’s desire, rarely going a day without ranting on the phone about some miraculous purchase or another. Rose was completely at a loss- everyone she knew seemed so content in this universe. Everyone but her. 

She knew what her mum would actually want for Christmas, and what she would never get. She would her want to move on, to be happy. And if a person were able to buy happiness at the department store, Rose suspected her savings account would be significantly depleted. It just wasn’t that simple. 

If she had never met him, maybe she could be happy right now. She had thought that she was happy, before she travelled with him. But now that she had known happiness like that, purpose like that, working in a shop seemed a sad downgrade. 

Looking around the shops, she began to get a familiar uneasiness in the pit of her stomach which she hadn’t felt in months. It was the feeling she got when she knew something was off- a sort of finely tuned sixth sense she had developed over her time in constant danger. And right now, something was setting her off. 

The shops weren’t just unusually empty, they were completely empty. The usual babble of teenagers giggling, toddlers whining and dragging their feet, and mothers chatting and scolding didn’t echo around the walls like it usually did. There was just the eerie low hum of the lights to keep her company. 

Until… until it wasn’t just the lights keeping her company.

“Rose Tyler.” A voice whispered like wind through the room. A soft breeze teased past her, fluttering through her hair like fingers. 

“No.” she muttered. “It’s not possible. Not here.” 

And without another glance at the shadows which seemed to grow behind her, Rose did what she did best in these types of situations. 

A familiar voice in her head seemed to shout, and she had to agree. 

“Rose, run!”


End file.
